WVVet25

taxes used to be cheap here. then THEY found out about it and moved here to prostitute that fact...now, the tax rates are nearing equal to where THEY came from and THEY are complaining ??? THEY made it this way.....dumber than a box of rocks.

chula79

Personally I see this auction as pointless. If the homeowner has 18 months to settle with the state, you are basically giving the state a "loan" until the owners can afford tob pay what they owe. I can't imagine someone losing their home for a couple hundred dollars in back taxes. Makes no sense to me.

TheBlueAndTheGray

The last person I know who did this in Jefferson County purchased 5 properties. 4 came back and paid their back taxes but the 5th property owner for whatever reason did not so he ended up with that property. The point is if you are lucky and buy enough of them you could potentially make a good return on investment; if not you tie up a lot of cash money of a considerable period of time for peanuts in interest.

m421953

2500 properties are up for auction in Berkeley County... Am I missing something??? Does not sound good, but what do I know? Guess I will go shopping in downtown Martinsburg today. OOPS! nothing there!!!

dackbc

Put it like this...Whatever the circumstance for the $17 overdue taxes...???

Whomever owes $17 I'll bet during the course of the year has spent multitudes more on cigarettes, beer, impulse crap. Totally absurd that people don't pay taxes, but have money for non-life "necessities."

DontTreadOnME

"Don't Tread: Sorry that verbal ju-jitsu won't work. Progressive, when applied to taxation refers to taxing those with the means to pay at higher rates."

So again what difference does it make if the gas station (or rental property owner) takes the extra money to cover his/her taxes? The end result is the same...cost of products (some luxury, some basic necessity) are driven up to cover the owners tax burden. People invest or go into business to make money, not lose it, therefore they will consider all overhead when pricing their product.

Bullhead

Arcadian, do you think this quote posted by RealityCheck earlier is "progressive' or "regressive"?

"Low taxes have drawn many foreign companies to Monaco and account for around 75% of the $6.581 billion annual GDP income in (2011)". " Monaco levies no income tax on individuals." 'Though official economic statistics are not published, year 2011 estimates place the national product at $6.888 billion and the world's highest per capita income is $186,175. The unemployment rate is 0%, as of 2011."

ARCADIAN

Old Boffin: You are one of many hundreds who have discovered that our RE taxes are much lower than Maryland or Virginia.

And the $17 parcel is very likely a tiny residuary or border piece of some subdivision with nothing on it. Likely the developer just lets it go.

Don't Tread: Sorry that verbal ju-jitsu won't work. Progressive, when applied to taxation refers to taxing those with the means to pay at higher rates. Regressive means taxing all at equal rates by pretending that taking $10 of a poor person's $100 food budget is morally equivalent to giving a hedge fund operator a $10,000 break on a $100,000 wedding for his daughter.

DontTreadOnME

"All property except one's primary residence and some farms are taxed at TWICE the rate of the primary residence. Thus commercial property and investment property, typically owned by the wealthier bear a larger burden."

These are just as regressive. It just drives up the cost of product (for example look at gas prices in WV vs. Surrounding states) and drives up rental costs for those who rent.

ARCADIAN

pdfromwv: Actually WV's real estate property taxes are less regressive than many other state's. All property except one's primary residence and some farms are taxed at TWICE the rate of the primary residence. Thus commercial property and investment property, typically owned by the wealthier bear a larger burden. If gazillionaires in this country actually PAID twice the effective income tax rate as someone making $80K we'd be in good shape. And then there are the corporate breaks..